Police have have been accused of conducting a “sham” investigation into alleged forced labour at a Mae Sot garment factory that formerly supplied the Tesco retail chain, after officials took just one day to conclude no laws were broken.
The workers made the allegations in interviews with The Guardian, the British newspaper that first broke the story of low pay, long hours and other alleged abuses at the VK Garment (VKG) factory.
The earlier reports led to a raid on Dec 23, led by deputy national police chief Gen Surachate Hakparn, at the factory in the border town in Tak province.
Workers told the Guardian that they logged 99-hour work weeks and earned as little as 120 baht a day — about one-third of the legal minimum wage — while enduring appalling conditions.
Police and officials from the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare conducted interviews with 114 former VK Garment workers on Dec 28 at the immigration building in Mae Sot.
A spokesperson for the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare said the team concluded later that evening that “no forced labour or services [were] found”. He added that “no victim under other laws was found” and that officials were unanimous in reaching that conclusion.
Workers told the Guardian the interviews were rushed and felt like a box-ticking exercise to clear the factory of allegations. They took place simultaneously with 21 interview teams in the open-plan immigration building.
One former ironing worker, Ye Zaw Zo, said he watched as his answer about illegally low pay was deleted from an officer’s screen. He said he told officers he had more to say but they refused to make a note of it. “It was such a waste of time,” he said. “For me, this was a one-sided investigation.”
He told the Guardian last month that the factory lowered his pay and controlled his bank account. He was one of several workers who said they were cut off before they could give officers full answers to questions.
Civil society organisations who witnessed the interviews sent a dossier to officials on Wednesday outlining the ways they failed to properly investigate the allegations.
They say that more than 40 laws may have been broken, including those relating to forced labour, low pay and the withholding of documents.
Oliver Holland, a partner at Leigh Day, the UK law firm that is bringing a case against Tesco, said: “The reports we have received from NGOs observing the Thai police interviews appear to show that the investigation was completely ineffective and that due process was not followed.
“Reports of workers having their answers to questions written down then deleted, being cut off from giving full answers, and officers refusing to take notes of their answers suggests that the investigation is purely for appearances, a complete sham with no desire to get to the truth of the conditions faced by our clients.”
Officials say that more interviews are planned, despite conclusions having already been released. One police source said they planned to interview another 22 former workers on Jan 10.
Tesco is facing a landmark lawsuit in the UK from 130 former VKG workers and a seven-year-old girl, who was raped in accommodation within the factory compound while her mother worked late making F&F clothes, the Guardian has reported.
The same workers have also been seeking justice in Thai courts after being dismissed from the factory in 2020, the newspaper reported. They say they were dismissed after they confronted the factory about pay and conditions and asked to be paid the minimum wage.
The labour court ruled in September that they were only entitled to severance pay and notice pay but an appeal was lodged in December reiterating their case for the payment of unpaid overtime, holidays and illegally low wages.
Somchai Homlaor, director of the Human Rights and Development Foundation, which has been supporting the workers, said they had endured undignified conditions “similar to slavery” with illegal rates of pay. “I would like to urge law enforcement to take legal action against the employers,” he added.
The workers made F&F jeans and other clothes for the Thai branches of Tesco between 2017 and 2020. The retail chain has since been sold to the Charoen Pokphand Group which has rebranded it as Lotus’s.
Tesco, which had no role in the day-to-day running of the factory, said the allegations were “incredibly serious” and that it would have ended its relationship with the supplier “immediately” if it had identified issues of the kind at the time.
Sirikul Tatiyawongpaibul, the managing director of VKG, previously said nothing illegal had been found at the factory.
“We have provided safe working conditions to all employees,” she told the Guardian. “We are regularly audited by independent auditors who are not affiliated with the company to maintain good working conditions for our employees and as required by law.”
Ms Sirikul has said the claims should be presented in court and could not be commented on, given the pending appeal.